The Naruto craze continues to roll on. The Cartoon Network show is still gathering an audience, and it's not even into the second year of shows yet. So why stop a constant rolling stream of licensed video games now? Naruto: Ultimate Ninja sold rather well [mullen: how well? Critical acclaim or sales?], and Namco Bandai will soon be following that up with Naruto:Uzumaki Chronicles early next year. In the meantime, gamers eager to continue fighting with Naruto, Rock Lee, and the rest of the gang can check out D3's quasi-sequel Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2, now on shelves.
Notice the word quasi. Well, it's not really a word that often finds use, and that's because Clash of Ninja 2 isn't entirely a brand new sequel, but rather an improved build of last year's Clash of Ninja game. The same fighting engine is in use here, as well as a number of backdrops, animations, and character voices. One might call it a recycling job if it wasn't for the fact that Eighting has made some exceptional additions to the game.
First off, the character selection is much improved. The first game featured about eight or so fighters in all. The second, however, has twenty-three, many of which are hidden and have to be unlocked. Most of the fighters look about the same, but have certain touches that add greatly to their style. Kankuro, for example, is dressed in a wolf's costume, and has a few feral attacks to his credit. Might Guy, Rock's dedicated trainer, provides his own personal move list that sometimes differs from Rock's. And then there's Gaara, a warrior in a league by himself. That's because he dips into a magic bag of sand that literally does what he commands. Sure, you say. It's just sand. You try saying that when you're on the receiving end of "sand coffin!"
The other significant addition to the game is the ability to play with four players at once. When a fighting game doubles up, the possibilities open up for more unpredictable fights. The way the balance of this fighting is done takes a little getting used to (you basically have to tap the Z button to switch between opponents), but it works reasonably well, and the team-up battles become really interesting within a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
Past these two items, the engine is just about the same as the first game. The cel-shaded animation remains true to the show's theme, and the backdrops feature familiar locales to draw anime fans further in. The game moves at a pretty constant 60 frames per second, only slowing down during dramatic super attacks or at the end of a match. The sound is equally well done, with a number of decent anime-driven tunes and some quality voicework from the show's actors (although you may get sick of Naruto screaming out "Believe it!" every other line).
As for controls, they follow a relatively basic pattern. This might be a disappointment for those looking for complexity in a fighting game like super-counters or having to do out-of-hand movements to pull off a super, but there's a fine balance to be found here. There's distance and up-close attacks, throws, a fun counter system where you can disappear in a puff of smoke and counteract rather quickly, and some moderately fun super attacks like the spine crushing Gaara's sand coffin.
While the new features implemented are enjoyable, it would have been nice for the actual modes to expand a little more. The Shopping Mode can be fun, as points can be spent on a variety of unlockable goodies, but the rest follow a pretty standard path. There's the Story Mode, a Training Mode, a Single Player fighting mode, a couple of versus modes, and a CPU Demo mode where AI warriors engage in fights, just in case laziness has set in. And that's about it. It would have been great if Eighting were to throw in more diverse fighting options and more multiplayer features to make it feel more like a real sequel.
Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 is far from a terrible game. In fact, it is better than the original, thanks to the throwing-in of two additional players and the beefed-up fighter selection. But too much seems borrowed from the first game to make it really feel like an improved in sequel. It's recommended for fans or GameCube owners who refuse to let go of their little console, as well as those who can't get enough of crazy multiplayer anime fighting. It's still a relatively good time. Believe it.
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